Amazon's Apple TV Competitor to Launch in April as Chromecast-Like Dongle

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Despite an earlier report suggesting a March launch, a new report from the Wall Street Journal now claims Amazon will start selling its video-streaming device in April through its own website and retailers like Best Buy.

The device will run a version of Android akin to the company's Kindle Fire readers and will support common media streaming services like Netflix.

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The Amazon device will carry a variety of apps available on Roku Inc. and Apple set-top boxes and run on a version of Google's Android software, like Amazon's tablet computers, these people said. Roku's most popular apps include video services Netflix and Hulu Plus and music service Pandora, as well as Amazon's own video-streaming service.

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An earlier report from TechCrunch claims the Amazon device will have a stick form factor similar to Google's Chromecast and will plug into the HDMI port of any HDTV. These same sources believe the device will support online gaming, streaming top-tier titles to the device at 30 frames per second from Amazon's servers in a manner similar to remote gaming service OnLive.

Pricing for the Amazon device is not yet known, but it is expected to be consistent with competing devices which are priced under $100. Google's Chromecast is the cheapest option at $35, while Roku's new Streaming Stick is priced at $49. Sources claim Amazon Prime customers will receive extra incentives for purchasing the device.

macrumors 68000

I hope they do better than Google in allowing the dongle to get the power through the HDMI port versus having a power cord connected to it -- that is ugly and kind of defeats the point of a dongle IMO.

macrumors 6502a

macrumors member

I hope they do better than Google in allowing the dongle to get the power through the HDMI port versus having a power cord connected to it -- that is ugly and kind of defeats the point of a dongle IMO.

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To take power over HDMI you would need a HDMI MHL port which is just isn't common enough to use on a low price device that you want people to easily use out of the box.

My understanding is the confusion and lack of support over MHL is part of the reason why Roku changed their streaming stick from being a MHL only device (which the 2012 model was) to the new model which supports USB power.

macrumors 6502

macrumors 6502

Actually when my AppleTV is acting up, I switch to the Chromecast for Netflix. It just works.

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Out of curiosity, what version Apple TV do you have? It might be coincidence, but I just swapped out my Apple TV 2 for a brand new Apple TV 3,2 and have had much better performance than I was having. Less pixelation. The opening credits of House of Cards and Clone Wars (the blue phrase of the episode) were the most obvious places that saw improvement.

macrumors 6502

Out of curiosity, what version Apple TV do you have? It might be coincidence, but I just swapped out my Apple TV 2 for a brand new Apple TV 3,2 and have had much better performance than I was having. Less pixelation. The opening credits of House of Cards and Clone Wars (the blue phrase of the episode) were the most obvious places that saw improvement.

macrumors 6502

The purpose of the dongle/roku/ATV, IMO, is to push the streaming services proprietary format when they can't/won't work with the TV OEMs. Although Netflix is available on TV sets, game console, and disc players, it is the exception and doesn't scale for the streaming services (Apple/Google/Amazon/etc) to place into the various devices/sets.

Some kind of "cable-card" like form factor, or similar port, would be nice and solve a lot of problems. However, I am a purist and prefer a TV to be a display and nothing more. I run an HDMI matrix in the basement with all source devices next to it, and all TV sets are pure displays. I have an HDMI based IR remote extender (takes power from HDMI) to control those devices.

macrumors G5

Is it a Chromecast-like "pile" of dongles? The tidy one Google shows in the picture, plus the adapter that goes between it and the TV if your TV doesn't have enough room for its wide shape, plus the required USB power cable (plugged into a second place on your TV) plus the wall-power USB brick if your TV lacks USB, plus any extension cords needed to make that brick fit.

Not so simple or portable as the marketing would lead people to think.

macrumors 65816

Is it a Chromecast-like "pile" of dongles? The tidy one Google shows in the picture, plus the adapter that goes between it and the TV if your TV doesn't have enough room for its wide shape, plus the required USB power cable (plugged into a second place on your TV) plus the wall-power USB brick if your TV lacks USB, plus any extension cords needed to make that brick fit.

Not so simple or portable as the marketing would lead people to think.

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i have no idea what kind of tvs the potential chromecast viewers own but they are accommodating people who dont fulfill the optimal requirements. would you rather they didnt do that at all or made a puck or sphere (again) like device with all that inside?

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